Improved washing-compound



Q2 "ZiINITED portion of our dirt-lifter added.

, STATES PATENT OF H. A. S. PARK AND H. VAN PELT, OF CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 71,526, dated November 26, 1867.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, H. A. S. PARK and J. H. VAN PELT, of Cumberland, in the county of Allegheny and State of Maryland, have invented an Improved Detergent Compound, which we term the Dirt-Lifter, for washing and cleansing clothes, oil-cloths, &c.; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Our invention consistsin forming a detergent compound of equal parts of bicarbonate of soda and hyposulphite or the -61soda. we prefei- "tlie former, but either will do.

It has long been considered a great desideraturn to obtain a compound or fluid that would successfully cleanse clothes, whether the same were made of cotton or woolen fabrics, silks, oil-cloths, &c., without the use of soap. For, notwithstanding the universal use of soap for such purposes, the same is objectionable, for you cannot obtain a soap that is free from grease, one or more of the oil-acids being necessarily used in all the compounds from which the same are made. Our com pound most efi'ectively does the work without the use of soap, and therefore all grease is avoided.

The articles to be washed are placed in a tub or vessel containing pure water, with a There they remain for afew hours, when they are removed, being perfectly impregnated with the solution; no labor being required save only the arrangingthe articles in the vessel and their subsequent withdrawal therefrom. After the clothes have been permitted to remain in the solution a sufiicient time, they are removed and was ed in pure water until the articles are entirely freed from the solution.

One of the great advantages connected with our compound is, that it matters not whether the water is hard or soft, heated or not, the result is precisely the same, and for all woolen goods, flannels, silks, &c., it cannot be equaled.

Our compound is peculiarly adapted for washing clothes of the finer textures, and the more delicate colors, as almost all the friction caused by rubbing the articles between the hands or against the wash-board is dispensed with, the compound doing the work so thoroughly that the same is unnecessary; and there is nothing in our compound to cause the colors to run, which fact will be readily admitted by all who are in any degree familiar with the chemical properties of theingredients used. Any article whose color. is not affected by pure water will not be injured after our compound is added to the same. And again, our compound is cheaper than any soap that can be used for a general wash. The proportions that we have found most advantageous are as follows: Take one pound of hyposulphite of soda and one pound of bicarbonate of soda, and mix the same with three gallons of water. When more-than three gallons of water are used, of course additional quantities of the soda are required, the same ratio of proportions being observed.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A detergent compound, of which thelu;

osul bite or hyposulphate of soda is an ing r' efl'ien t".

2. The combination of the by )osulphite or hv )osul mate of soda with the icariiolfa te o'i sorla in equal quantities, so as to form a defignt compound, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscrlbing witnesses.

H. A. S. PARK. J. H. VAN PELT.

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